Once Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Steve Montador alluded to perceived key changes in the NHL's CBA proposal, it was probably inevitable that the league would release the offer in full. On Wednesday morning, that's exactly what happened.

The league sent the four-page proposal and seven-page addendum to media and published it on its website. The substance of the offer and response from the union is about what we expected by Tuesday night—a starting point for negotiations, not an ultimate solution to the NHL lockout.

The issue Montador raised in an interview with Adam Jahn's of the Chicago Sun-Times: potential changes to hockey-related revenue, which is shorthand for the money the league is arguing over. Last season, that totaled $3.3 billion, and players got 57 percent of it. The owners, citing increased costs of running franchises, want to drop players' share to 50 percent—a projected 13 percent paycut—then reimburse for the first year over time. That, ultimately is what this is about—but a necessary starting point for negotiations is that the sides are talking about the same number, with the same calculation methods.

Montador said the league switched things up, which would be both disastrous and not without precedent—the league did just that in a previous proposal. This time around, according to the NHL, that isn't the case—though it does cop to "clarifications" in how the number is calculated. From the addendum:

"We agree to retain the CBA’s current HRR definitions. Further, we propose to formalize the various agreements the NHLPA and the NHL have reached, and lived under, during the course of the expired CBA, and to clarify mutually identified ambiguities in the CBA.

"Importantly, we do not believe any of our proposed clarifications should have any impact either on the amount of the Players’ Share or the amount that any individual Player is entitled to receive. None of these clarifications for instance, would have had a material impact on the 2011/12 Actual HRR number. This proposal is all about certainty, clarity and speeding up our complex, end-of-year accounting process."

The question boils down to whether the NHL is talking about 50 percent of the pie the players are used to, or whether its's 50 percent of a slightly smaller pie. Smaller pies, in metaphors and reality, are always bad.

"They want to "clarify" HRR definition and rules," executive director Donald Fehr wrote. "It is not immediately clear what this means, but so far all of their ideas in this regard have had the effect of reducing HRR, and thereby lowering salaries."

An offshoot of the HRR figure is revenue sharing—the NHL, based on the $3.3 billion figure, says top-grossing teams and league/playoff revenues will provide $200 million to be split among lower-revenue teams. That, according to the proposal, is a 33 percent increase—assuming there aren't any changes to HRR. Or pies.

Other points on revenue sharing, according to the proposal:

— Distribution will be determined each year by a committee, on which the union will have representation.

— In the proposal's first two years, no team will receive less than it received in 2011-12.

— Teams from large markets and in the top half league revenues will now be eligible.